Halls of Mist is here!

[wobbly]

Playing today with a gnome mage I was blasted to the point of recieving a wound at range before I could even reach the first shop. On running down the stairs I recieved another wound trying to pick-up the pile of coins next to me (creeping silver coins). While it sounds like your aiming for a challenging game, perhaps that's still a little too unforgiving.

Anyway, using the look command I noticed I could see all the piles of coins in the room were mimics. It's kind of amusing that I could of prevented the wound just by looking. Not sure that it's the best game mechanic for mimics though. A perception roll when next to mimics perhaps?

[Mikko Lehtinen]

Playing today with a gnome mage I was blasted to the point of recieving a wound at range before I could even reach the first shop. On running down the stairs I recieved another wound trying to pick-up the pile of coins next to me (creeping silver coins). While it sounds like your aiming for a challenging game, perhaps that's still a little too unforgiving.

Yeah, novices may have a hard time in Mist. It's a balancing act: a harder game is more interesting to veterans.

Anyway, using the look command I noticed I could see all the piles of coins in the room were mimics. It's kind of amusing that I could of prevented the wound just by looking. Not sure that it's the best game mechanic for mimics though. A perception roll when next to mimics perhaps?

That's a good idea. I don't know how much coding it would take to make mimics truly hidden until noticed. I believe Vanilla has done it.

If you want to make your life easier, play with the visible monsters subwindow open!

I'll look into the "open door on a table" bug.

Thanks for your comments and the bug report!

[ekolis]

I was browsing the class help, and noticed that Spellswords are described as having Intelligence for their spell stat. Shouldn't that be Memory?

[Mikko Lehtinen]

I was browsing the class help, and noticed that Spellswords are described as having Intelligence for their spell stat. Shouldn't that be Memory?

Oh yes, thanks.

[Starhawk]

If you want to make your life easier, play with the visible monsters subwindow open!
!

I don't play with subwindows, and have lost a couple of promising characters to the 'death sword.' Ugh. That thing is way, WAY too harsh. I had one take a character from full-hp to death, through his last two wounds, without me getting to act.

All because I thought I walking up to an item on the floor. Could it at least be a different color or something?

[Mikko Lehtinen]

Yes, good idea. Maybe red for death sword, purple for doom sword?

[Starhawk]

Works for me. Also, what level are they supposed to start spawning at? I just had one pop up on DL5 and take another character from full hp, through two wounds and dead before I got a chance to act.

[Mikko Lehtinen]

Death Sword is a level 7 monster.

The attack pattern looks like this:

B:HIT:HURT:5d5
B:HIT:HURT:5d5
B:HIT:HURT:5d5
B:HIT:HURT:5d5

[Starhawk]

How do you mix potions? I saw some reference to that in the patch notes but don't know how it's done.

Also, feature request: in the abbreviated combat messages, can we get some kind of indicator of when a monster swings and misses? It would be helpful in knowing how many attacks a monster gets, or knowing when a monster is faster than you (and happens to be swinging and missing while you run).

[ekolis]

"x" is the mix potions key.

Would be nice if you could use mushrooms as ingredients, too... kind of hard to mix two mushrooms, but a mushroom and a potion should be reasonable!

[ekolis]

I don't play with subwindows, and have lost a couple of promising characters to the 'death sword.' Ugh. That thing is way, WAY too harsh. I had one take a character from full-hp to death, through his last two wounds, without me getting to act.

All because I thought I walking up to an item on the floor. Could it at least be a different color or something?

Maybe a shimmering effect for the creeping coins, too? "It looks a bit TOO shiny..." could be a good monster description!

[Mikko Lehtinen]

How do you mix potions? I saw some reference to that in the patch notes but don't know how it's done.

You learn one of the ingredients by making an Alchemy skill check when drinking the potion. You learn both ingredients and which potions use this potion as an ingredient if you identify the potion fully (with *Lore*).

Also, feature request: in the abbreviated combat messages, can we get some kind of indicator of when a monster swings and misses? It would be helpful in knowing how many attacks a monster gets, or knowing when a monster is faster than you (and happens to be swinging and missing while you run).

Any ideas on the indicators? Maybe color coded dots or lines or something...

[Starhawk]

Any ideas on the indicators? Maybe color coded dots or lines or something...

I'd be ok with just another one-word indicator:

"Ouch. Ouch. Whiff. Whiff. Ouch."

Alternatives to "whiff" (for the breeze created by a strong swing and a miss) could be:

"You parry."
"You block."
"Clang!" for the blow hitting your armor or shield.

For that matter, I'd be very okay with a slightly more verbose monster attack line, that includes the monster name once - since I don't generally bother with subwindows and dislike the tedium of <l>ooking at every monster: "The <monsterName> hits, hits, misses, hits." Or even "The <monsterName> hits twice, misses twice."

[Mikko Lehtinen]

Whiff, Parry, Block, and Clang sound awesome.

Bam! Pow! Zap! Batman the roguelike!

I'll have to think about the messages a bit more before doing anything. There should maybe be an option for a bit longer messages for people who play without the visible monsters subwindow.

There are probably other options besides flooding the message line.

[Mikko Lehtinen]

Now that I've decided to change the mana system, what should we do with the upcoming Halls of Mist competition?

Creating your own character with no restrictions doesn't seem that good an idea in this situation.

Should we have a non-spellcaster comp? That way the mana system version wouldn't matter. We've already had a FayAngband Rogue comp. Templar would be cool -- but I've already changed the class a little in my dev version. (I've greatly simplified the proficiencies. For Templars that means that they now have Fencing always "on" and have no special proficiencies.) Warrior or the "new" Templar are the best non-spellcaster options.

Or should I playtest the new mana system with one class, say a Spellsword, and make sure it works well enough for the comp? I like the idea of competitors making their own Spellswords to showcase the possibility for different "builds".